Well, it's been about a week and a half since this was first made playable. I'll probably wait another week until I resume slates. I have a few things to show for now though...
First off, we have a new banner! Pretty large image so I'm going to hide it, but this was made by my friend SuperChandler64! He's not on Smogon, so I'm going to link his Twitter instead.
As for the rest, I'm going to talk a little bit about what I think about the meta and how good certain Pokemon are. I still don't feel super experienced, so take my word with a grain of salt here.
If I were to choose what I think the three most defining Pokemon of the metagame were, it'd probably be Komodith, Giranium, and Flamepion. Giranium has great stats and a really nice typing as well as the ability to use many different kinds of sets effectively, although I think bulkier sets are better because more offensive sets don't do particularly well against things like Gorilax or Komodith. Komodith is a fantastic breaker thanks to its good bulk and good defensive typing, as well as Bulk Up, dual STABs, and Earthquake, although it struggles with Brawnkey and (I think) Aquatopus and is pretty slow. Flamepion has a really threatening offensive presence thanks to its good offensive typing and nice movepool. I know it can run a Spirit Shackle + Toxic set to break down things like Baloon or a Choice Band set for a better wallbreaking presence, but these two sets both have their own specific counters and neither likes hazards or status. Another possible top metagame threat could be Electritar, but I think I'm just not that good at using Pokemon like this.
Some other wallbreakers I think are good are Toados, Pidgeotine, and Chillvark, but I don't really know what to say about them because they just have really good coverage that can make them difficult to switch in on. I've tried running Grassy Seed + Bulk Up Toados with Unburden and Chillyte support, but it seems like a gimmick at best; although Toados itself might be a nice Pokemon if you invest some into Defense and get to +2, I still don't think Chillyte is very good. I will also mention that Hyperoach still seems really interesting to me even if not tested much, I think Swords Dance + Z-Explosion sets and Desolate Land Growth + Z-Conversion sets both might have a place, although I've not tested the latter at all and I haven't been able to get good use out of Flamyle to support the former. Like Electritar, it might be me being bad at using them, but it might be the Pokemon itself.
Some other defensive threats here are Baloon, Brawnkey, Gorilax, and Voltecta. I feel like Baloon and Brawnkey are the best straight physical walls of the meta, although Voltecta has the best offensive presence of the three (still not the best but its coverage is nice) and it makes for a better pivot than a hard wall. I think specially defensive Gorilax will be better than physically defensive, even if I haven't tested both. Its movepool isn't that good but things like Lunge and Wish can be nice to have. I feel like Glacida and Mosqung both deserve a mention here as well even if I've never tested them. Glacida has the best raw bulk in the metagame and a friend tells me it's a very good hard wall, but I'm skeptical because it doesn't switch in well at all on many of the Pokemon I've mentioned earlier like Chillvark, Komodith, and Flamepion. It might make for a solid offensive tank though. Mosqung has fantastic bulk on both ends of the spectrum, but from a match I saw between two friends, an Electritar switched in on Strength Sap and the Mosqung barely healed anything at all. I haven't seen it being used that much, but that alongside its big weakness to hazards might make things a lot harder for it.
The two biggest Mega candidates of the Pokemon I've tested might be Anteros and definitely Chillyte. There aren't many scenarios where I would find myself wanting to use Anteros over Giranium, except for maybe either a Stall team or a team that needs a less Fighting-weak or Ground-weak Steel. While the Stall teams thing is actually a legitimate niche, there aren't many Fighting-types and Ground-types that it really changes the matchup with (maybe Eartharoo and probably Glacida). It definitely has a place but I'm not sure if its niche is very big. Grassy Terrain might make Chillyte not completely worthless, since its physical bulk actually is pretty good if you can get past its bad typing, so it does well against stuff that can't hit it super effectively like many Stuneleon, Pidgeotine, and Ninjoth variants, although that seems highly specific and I'm not sure if Grassy Terrain is that good for Stall teams.
I want to close out this post saying again that my experience here is pretty limited, although I do plan on playing more this weekend. There are some Pokemon that I don't really know much about that might end up being great in the metagame, like Rhinolite, Voltarak, Ninjoth, Kinesel, and Hyenix. Some of the Pokemon I think are bad might have a lot more use than I thought at first, and there might be something I didn't notice about something I said was good here that would make it a lot worse. Either way, I need to test more to get a better opinion of this meta, but for now, this is what I have.
First off, we have a new banner! Pretty large image so I'm going to hide it, but this was made by my friend SuperChandler64! He's not on Smogon, so I'm going to link his Twitter instead.
As for the rest, I'm going to talk a little bit about what I think about the meta and how good certain Pokemon are. I still don't feel super experienced, so take my word with a grain of salt here.
If I were to choose what I think the three most defining Pokemon of the metagame were, it'd probably be Komodith, Giranium, and Flamepion. Giranium has great stats and a really nice typing as well as the ability to use many different kinds of sets effectively, although I think bulkier sets are better because more offensive sets don't do particularly well against things like Gorilax or Komodith. Komodith is a fantastic breaker thanks to its good bulk and good defensive typing, as well as Bulk Up, dual STABs, and Earthquake, although it struggles with Brawnkey and (I think) Aquatopus and is pretty slow. Flamepion has a really threatening offensive presence thanks to its good offensive typing and nice movepool. I know it can run a Spirit Shackle + Toxic set to break down things like Baloon or a Choice Band set for a better wallbreaking presence, but these two sets both have their own specific counters and neither likes hazards or status. Another possible top metagame threat could be Electritar, but I think I'm just not that good at using Pokemon like this.
Some other wallbreakers I think are good are Toados, Pidgeotine, and Chillvark, but I don't really know what to say about them because they just have really good coverage that can make them difficult to switch in on. I've tried running Grassy Seed + Bulk Up Toados with Unburden and Chillyte support, but it seems like a gimmick at best; although Toados itself might be a nice Pokemon if you invest some into Defense and get to +2, I still don't think Chillyte is very good. I will also mention that Hyperoach still seems really interesting to me even if not tested much, I think Swords Dance + Z-Explosion sets and Desolate Land Growth + Z-Conversion sets both might have a place, although I've not tested the latter at all and I haven't been able to get good use out of Flamyle to support the former. Like Electritar, it might be me being bad at using them, but it might be the Pokemon itself.
Some other defensive threats here are Baloon, Brawnkey, Gorilax, and Voltecta. I feel like Baloon and Brawnkey are the best straight physical walls of the meta, although Voltecta has the best offensive presence of the three (still not the best but its coverage is nice) and it makes for a better pivot than a hard wall. I think specially defensive Gorilax will be better than physically defensive, even if I haven't tested both. Its movepool isn't that good but things like Lunge and Wish can be nice to have. I feel like Glacida and Mosqung both deserve a mention here as well even if I've never tested them. Glacida has the best raw bulk in the metagame and a friend tells me it's a very good hard wall, but I'm skeptical because it doesn't switch in well at all on many of the Pokemon I've mentioned earlier like Chillvark, Komodith, and Flamepion. It might make for a solid offensive tank though. Mosqung has fantastic bulk on both ends of the spectrum, but from a match I saw between two friends, an Electritar switched in on Strength Sap and the Mosqung barely healed anything at all. I haven't seen it being used that much, but that alongside its big weakness to hazards might make things a lot harder for it.
The two biggest Mega candidates of the Pokemon I've tested might be Anteros and definitely Chillyte. There aren't many scenarios where I would find myself wanting to use Anteros over Giranium, except for maybe either a Stall team or a team that needs a less Fighting-weak or Ground-weak Steel. While the Stall teams thing is actually a legitimate niche, there aren't many Fighting-types and Ground-types that it really changes the matchup with (maybe Eartharoo and probably Glacida). It definitely has a place but I'm not sure if its niche is very big. Grassy Terrain might make Chillyte not completely worthless, since its physical bulk actually is pretty good if you can get past its bad typing, so it does well against stuff that can't hit it super effectively like many Stuneleon, Pidgeotine, and Ninjoth variants, although that seems highly specific and I'm not sure if Grassy Terrain is that good for Stall teams.
I want to close out this post saying again that my experience here is pretty limited, although I do plan on playing more this weekend. There are some Pokemon that I don't really know much about that might end up being great in the metagame, like Rhinolite, Voltarak, Ninjoth, Kinesel, and Hyenix. Some of the Pokemon I think are bad might have a lot more use than I thought at first, and there might be something I didn't notice about something I said was good here that would make it a lot worse. Either way, I need to test more to get a better opinion of this meta, but for now, this is what I have.
